


the casino ficlet

by jerkbending



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: M/M, Modern AU, No Smut, but that's nothing new, jee is a dirty old man, zuko is legal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-26
Updated: 2014-10-26
Packaged: 2018-02-22 18:51:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2518133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jerkbending/pseuds/jerkbending
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>with much appreciation to <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/users/DracoMaleficium/pseuds/DracoMaleficium">DracoMaleficium</a> for motivation and help with the end</p><p>un-betaed.  all mistakes are mine.</p>
    </blockquote>





	the casino ficlet

**Author's Note:**

> with much appreciation to [DracoMaleficium](http://archiveofourown.org/users/DracoMaleficium/pseuds/DracoMaleficium) for motivation and help with the end
> 
> un-betaed. all mistakes are mine.

It’s not Jee’s first time at a casino, but it’s his first time at this one, and he figures if he ever gets the money to blow, he’ll probably come back. He has ten dollars in a penny slot and four empty cups stacked on the side of the unoccupied machine next to him. He’s betting thirty cents at a time and mostly winning his money back, but sometimes two, even five dollars, which he sets to betting away again immediately. There’s a band on the stage on the left side of the room, some rockabilly group, and he’s vaguely aware they’re close to finishing up their set. When they’re gone, the casino will start piping country or R&B through the speakers again, but he won’t be able to hear much above the ringing of the machines. The room is lit mostly by the glow from the games, the ceiling lights somewhat obscured by the thick haze of cigarette smoke drifting up from the patrons, but the carpet is clean and there’s always someone making the rounds to collect trash. 

"Drinks! Cocktails!" the servers orbit their sections constantly, going from the bar to the tables, from the bar to the stage, from the bar to the machines. Since he’s sat down it’s been a pretty blonde with a bob bringing him refills and smiling when he tips, but he’s stretching his back when he realizes he hasn’t seen her in a while. Instead there’s a young man dropping off Coors at a group of Plinko gamers to his right, and he checks his watch to see that there was probably a shift change. The server does a double-take when Jee raises his hand and collects the empty glasses on his tray when he gets to him.

"What are you drinking?" his voice is kind of gravely and Jee has to lean in just a little to hear him even though he knows what he probably said. His hair is black and shaggy, but Jee sees what looks like a burn on the left side of his face and figures he’d probably try to hide it too. 

"Rum and coke," he’s stopped specifying what kind of rum two glasses ago because he’s been watching the bartender, and it doesn’t matter what he says, the rum comes out of the same large bottle every time. He doesn’t really care. The drinks are free as long as you’re playing.

"Figured," the kid almost smiles and turns back to the bar, and Jee kind of wants to ask exactly what he meant by that, but his attention is caught by how his ass looks in the uniform slacks and he decides the question can wait.

He’s lost a few more spins when the server returns and Jee checks his name tag to see ‘Zuko’ in crooked black marker. He raises an eyebrow but lays a dollar on his tray anyway; drinks might be free, but consistent tipping inspires faster service. 

"Thanks," Zuko says and turns to go but Jee interrupts.

"How did you figure?" he leans on the control panel in what he feels is confident posturing, but it’s apparently not as impressive as he’d like because he _sees_ Zuko snort. 

"All sailors drink rum," this time he gets a real grin, or half of one anyway. Okay so it’s more of a smirk but it’s something. 

"You got an eye for sailors?" he says over the rim of his glass, which earns him an _Are You Serious?_ eyebrow raise that looks right at home on the kid’s face, and he looks pointedly at Jee’s arm where the anchor and chain are sticking out from the sleeve of his shirt. Right. The tattoo. He nods once and turns back to his machine.

He wins eighteen dollars on a lucky spin the next time that Zuko swaps his empty glass with a full one, and Jee tips him two; he’s not sure if he’s trying to make up for the abysmal flirting or convince him he’s worth suffering through it. If the liquor were quality, he’d be too gone to find his feet by now, but it’s close to house brand and the drinks are mostly soda anyway, so he’s only buzzed.

"How long you been workin’ here?" he asks in an attempt to keep him around a little longer. 

"Just started this summer," Zuko leans against an empty machine, "you have to be twenty-one to handle the liquor. It’s not some cheap place where they don’t ask as long as you don’t expect minimum wage."

"So you don’t take it under the table?" Jee congratulates himself when Zuko seems a little taken aback.

"No," he says slowly, and Jee does not imagine the once-over he gets, "I…take it…strictly over the table."

"What about a desk?" he asks but Zuko’s already leaving, and Jee wonders if maybe he’s gone too far. He’s flirted with servers before, but never anything that could be classified as overt harassment. He wonders if Zuko’s gone to find a manager and report him; he’ll be asked to leave, probably, and the thing that will irritate him the most will be that he’s already paid for the room, and he’s pretty sure that kind of thing is non-refundable if you’re sexually harassing casino employees. 

Especially young waiters with perfect lips and an ass he’d like to bite and _geeze_ the kid _just turned twenty-one_ and Jee feels like a filthy old man, but hey the boot fits.

He’s considering cashing out while he’s moderately ahead when his machine begins to ring and light up and make harsh noises. It takes him a minute to realize he’s won a hundred dollars on a spin he’ll probably never get again, and maybe he’ll sit here just a little bit longer.

"Nice spin," Zuko’s at his right again with a refill that Jee doesn’t really need yet; he tips him anyway.

"Tell me about it," he bets again but watches Zuko instead of the screen, "Listen, I didn’t mean t-"

"Getting lucky tonight, huh?" there’s a slight upturn to the corner of his mouth, and he thinks maybe he hasn’t scared him off after all.

Jee licks his bottom lip and turns on his stool to face him, “Been here all night, haven’t gotten lucky yet.”

"You still could." 

The screen flashes a frowny face to sad music, but he doesn’t care, decides to go for it, “I’d like to.”

Zuko steps in, “I get off at three.”

Jee leans forward and lowers his voice, “I’ll tell you when to get off.”

This time Zuko _blushes_ and if that isn’t the cutest thing he’s ever seen, “Are you in the East or West tower?”

"East, room 1555," he takes the second room card out of his wallet and lays it on Zuko’s tray under a five-dollar bill.

"1555," Zuko repeats and slips both into the pocket of his apron, "I’ll have to zone before I can clock out." 

Then he’s gone to take his tray back to the bar to get rid of the empty glasses and make his rounds again, and Jee decides he’s only willing to play twenty more dollars before he calls it a night.

——-  
He paces around the room for the hundredth time. He hasn’t spent enough time here to mess it up, although he’s not sure Zuko would care if it were. He’s not coming for coffee and a chat; he’s hopefully going to let Jee peel him out of his uniform and spread him out on the king size bed, but he wouldn’t be opposed to coffee later. 

The room is unnecessarily large with a huge flat screen television. The curtains block light, and the pillows on the bed are almost too soft to sleep on. If this was all on his dime, he’d definitely be bunking in something smaller, but the voucher paid half so he’s not complaining. The mirror even has movie star lighting, and he suddenly very much wants to see Zuko reflected in it, leaned over the counter with his eyes squeezed shut and mouth slack. 

He’s trying not to be anxious about it, but it’s nearly half-past and Zuko isn’t here yet. He understands he’s got no obligation to show, and it’s entirely possible he came to his senses and decided to actually go home after his shift, but Jee had really hoped he’d come. It was likely that even if he was off the clock at three, he still had to mop or put glasses away or refill napkin dispensers or something, and maybe he’d gotten caught up talking to someone. Four o’ clock, at four o’clock he’d give it up and go to bed, or maybe three forty-five. He did have a two hour drive back home the next day, and they stopped serving breakfast at ten-thirty. At three forty-five he’d go to bed.

He’s only half paying attention to a stand-up rerun on HBO when the key card beeps in the door.


End file.
